A widely held view that monarchs should have total or absolute power over people’s lives. Absolutism is rooted in the belief of the divine right of kings, that is to say that kings and queens get their power to rule from God.
Natural law
Nature is controlled by a universal system of rules. Examples include physics and biology. Enlightened thinkers believed that human behavior and man-made systems also followed natural law. Examples include politics and economics.
Montesquieu
Baron de Montesquieu was an important 18th century political philosopher and writer. In 1748 he wrote The Spirit of Laws. He believed in a separation of powers to avoid tyranny.
Rousseau
Rousseau was a political philosopher who wrote The Social Contract in 1762. He believed in the idea of popular sovereignty, the idea of the people of a country creating and agreeing to abide by the general (popular) will.
John Locke
John Locke was a political philosopher who published Two Treatises of Government in 1690. He argued that humans have the natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of property and governments have the responsibility to protect those rights.
Write a one page essay siding with either Hobbes or Locke and your reasons for the choice you made.
Philosophes Philosophy
1. Human society is governed by natural laws.
2. These natural laws can be discovered by rational men.
3. Human society can turn from traditional, authoritative forms, and progress toward a more perfect government through rational thought.
Read Rousseau and Montesquieu and cite each passage where one of the three tenets of Philosophes philosophy is used. Cite the passage.
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